Sunday's letters

Sunday

Mar 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Steube missing target

State Rep. Greg Steube ("School Gun Bill Passes One Test") takes the lock-and-load approach to protecting students in Florida schools: Since the Legislature apparently cannot afford to pay for more school officers, give teachers and principals a 40-hour course, and let them carry heat into the classrooms and hallways. Forget any study which supports curbing school gun violence with this amazing proposal. Forget the number of logistical and liability problems.

Almost lost in the Steube article: "Most of the bills intended to increase gun control have not received any committee hearing."

Here's an idea that state (and national) Republicans simply choose to ignore. A recent Quinnipiac poll indicates that an amazing 91 percent of Floridians support universal background checks for gun buyers. One wag has noted it's not certain that "you can get 90 percent of Floridians to agree that April should follow March on the calendar." Even 88 percent of state gun owners favor background checks.

You don't even need to be a "Profile in Courage" nominee to promote this minimal gun-control measure. That is, unless you are a handmaiden of the NRA and gun manufacturers.

Bill McGrath

Bradenton

North Port is ignored

I read in Friday's paper the article about the rental boom in our area, Specifically mentioned was the metropolitan statistical area "Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice."

I tried to look up this MSA on the web. It wasn't there. However, the "North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton" metropolitan statistical area was there.

Then I remembered: North Port is the elephant in the room in these parts.

Mike Moran

North Port

Appalling tale of surgery

My wife, Molly, suffers from trigeminal neuralgia, so we both have firsthand experience with the excruciating pain it causes. Before we found the "right" neurologist I had to sit and watch her suffer from wave after wave of pain and could do nothing but offer words. I certainly know why it is nicknamed the "suicide disease."

We have been fortunate that the pills the neurologist prescribed are doing their job and are masking the pain so she can lead a normal life.

However, we both know that, should the pills cease to be effective, she will be facing surgery.

Which brings me to the reason for this letter. I am appalled at the procedures encountered by Carole Valente during her surgery at Manatee Memorial Hospital and that of her surgeon, Dr. Phillip Tally ("Surgical gaffe was just the first shock," March 17 Herald-Tribune). I am also at a loss to explain the attitude taken by the State's Board of Medicine.

Should the day come when my wife requires surgery, I am confident of two factors. One, Manatee Memorial Hospital will never see us coming in the front door, and, two, Dr. Phillip Tally will not be receiving a new patient.

Our only hope will be that either Sarasota Memorial Hospital or Venice Regional Medical Center will be able to offer the proper care. However, should that not happen, we will have no choice but to return to Ohio and place our trust in the Cleveland Clinic.

David P. Prosser

Venice

Weight and heredity

"Employers push health changes with incentives" (March 26 Herald-Tribune) tells of employers rewarding or penalizing workers for whether or not they change unhealthy behaviors. I'm all for incentives, but punishing workers for unhealthy behaviors, especially for their weight, is dehumanizing.

When will we stop making eating and weight loss a simplistic issue when it's exceedingly complex and based on myriad factors, from sleep deprivation to environmental toxins? Studies show that long-term changes in eating are not generated by self-discipline or self-control and that internal motivation works better than external motivation for lasting results.

According to New York Times science writer Gina Kolata in "Rethinking Thin -- The New Science of Weight Loss and the Myths and Realities of Dieting," researchers concluded in a 1990 New England Journal of Medicine paper on identical and fraternal twins that "70 percent of the variation in people's weights may be accounted for by inheritance, which means that a tendency toward a certain weight is more strongly inherited than nearly any other tendency, including those that favor the development of mental illness, breast cancer, or heart disease."

Do we really want to live in a society that punishes people for their heredity? I, for one, do not.

Karen R. Koenig

Sarasota

Lawyers fight 'no fault'

The consideration by the state Legislature to eliminate "no fault" auto insurance is simply a giveaway to the Florida Bar Association. We need not look too far to realize that a large number of legislators are attorneys who favor the unlimited legal action and favor open season on the public by land developers and contractors.

Wake up, fellow Floridians, and toss these bums out before they cause more damage!

Wayne R. Dubbs

Venice

Stop median handouts

Please stop giving money to the panhandlers on the narrow medians of most of the major intersections in our area. A median is a dangerous place for anyone to stand/walk/stagger on.

Your money won't go to food, clothing and shelter. It will be used for drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.